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View Full Version : HIRSCHMAN'S NO PIT STRATEGY PAYS OFF IN LANCASTER RoC DART WIN Part 1



RGeeProductions
07-08-2007, 11:33 AM
On Saturday night at the Lancaster Motorsports Park second generation driver and 2005 Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour champion Matt Hirschman went against the odds with his race strategy. For the past few years every race run at Lancaster saw the winner pitting for a fresh right rear tire and many thought tonight would be no different.

As the majority of the field pitted under yellow on lap 33 of the 75 lap feature, Hirschman along with four other drivers decided to gamble and stay on the track. The gamble paid off in huge dividends for Hirschman as he motored into the lead on lap 39. Once in the lead Hirschman had to hold off the relentless challenges of Jan Leaty over the final 26 laps to claim the $2,800 victory.

Leaty who was looking for the weekend sweep of RoC Dart race action finished up second after starting 12th. Tom McGrath blew a rear end in heat one, got the car repaired just in time to make the feature, came on strong after his pit stop to finish a strong third. Teenager Erick Rudolph once again showing his ever increasing driver maturity as he finished fourth after starting 21st. Lancaster veteran driver Sege Fidanza made a late race charge to finish a fast closing fifth.

“ Every race and every race track takes a different strategy and it can be different at the same race track from one event to the next. You just try and do your best to come up with the best strategy possible to give you a chance to win. Sometimes that will get you a win, sometimes it will get you a second, and sometimes that will get you wrecked “ said the very happy race winner.

Matt's strategy started at the beginning of the night as he had to start last in his heat because he wasn't here last week when the rains came. Matt rode around in the back of the heat race saving his four tires that he knew he was going to be using in the feature. When the feature started and Matt in 17th he once again used strategy as he dropped back to near the end of the field. Matt was waiting to see how the race unfolded which was going to determine which part of his strategy was going to come into play.

“ Tonight I felt that was the strategy that I wanted to go with. Regardless of where we ran at the beginning or how hard we ran, we still did something that was almost impossible. You have to use your head and come up with the best strategy possible. “

Thinking race strategy is something that Matt has worked very hard at over the past few years. “ I helped win two NASCAR Modified championships in the last couple of years “ said Matt when talking about his experience as a crew chief for his father Tony, Jr. “ By coming up with ideas on how to win races and finish up front, it's my specialty I guess. “

Matt was asked if he bounced his race strategy idea off his father Tony who was spotting for him on this night. “ I told him what my strategy was and he just kind of shrugged his shoulders. He knew what I was planning on and if it didn't work out we could pit as I still had a fresh tire that we could put on. “

Matt found himself in fifth after the pit stops on lap 33 and over the next six laps Matt took to the fast outside groove at Lancaster to take the lead on lap 39. “ It wasn't a set guarantee that I wasn't going to pit “ said Matt. “ I just wanted to see how the cautions played out and it played the way I wanted it to go. From that point on I made a charge for the lead and I didn't intend to charge into the lead that quick, but it came to me. The car felt good and I drove it to the lead and I didn't know if I was going to make it at the end. Jan Leaty, he threw everything at me, his tire was fresh, and then we sorted evened out towards the end, but he was there. I knew that I was going to get pressure from somebody and it just happened to be Jan Leaty. “

Matt, who grew up watching his dad and Jan race all over battling for NASCAR Modified championships in the 1980's and 1990's spoke about those battles, “ Jan's been strong lately and I realize now what those battles he and my dad had back in the 1980's and 90's. They were tough competition for each other and I'm learning first hand on why they say Jan Leaty and Tony Hirschman battles in the 1980's at Shangri - La, Oswego, and here were still some of the best Modified racing ever. He's proving that he still has it just like my dad still has it. “

Matt then spoke about the key point on lap 59 when Jan was alongside him going down the backstretch. “ We were having radio communication troubles “ admitted Matt. “ I couldn't hear every word that the crew was saying and I wasn't getting all of the information that I would have liked to been getting. I sort of got a bit of it that he had a wheel in there. I didn't see him or hear him but I kind of heard that and I just drove it down into the corner as hard as I could. We were able to get back in front of him and that was our one close call besides having the radio communication problem. “

The final 20 laps of the race featured five yellow flag periods as drivers with fresh rubber were having a tough time passing drivers who were on used rubber. Those yellows which included two in the final four laps had many people thinking that they played right into the strategy of Hirschman, but Matt didn't think so. “ I really didn't want the cautions, I didn't like the cautions, maybe it was to my benefit, I don't know. I'd just rather run it green and you win, you win, and if you lose, you lose as it's a fair game for everybody. “

The win was Matt first career Lancaster win. “ I always wanted to win a feature here, just like I did at Oswego this year “ said Matt. “ I came here and back in the 80's my dad won a US Open here and I can remember it like it was a year or two ago. I always wanted to win one here, win one at Oswego, I try to win every race but to win at some places are real special and this is definitely one of them. “

“ I didn't tell anybody but I wanted that win tonight to make it a double on the weekend “ said second place finisher Jan Leaty. “ I've only done that a couple of times in my career and it would have been neat to do that this weekend. But I had a great weekend. “

Jan started 12th and took his time early in the race and in typical Leaty style started to turn the wick up at the 25 lap mark. From lap 25 to lap 33 Leaty impressively moved from tenth to fifth in a crowd pleasing driving performance. Leaty then pitted on lap 33 under yellow for a fresh right rear tire.

After the pit stop Leaty was now seventh on the track and on lap 42 he let everyone know that he was going to the front. Jan pulled off a three wide up the middle pass of Chuck Hossfeld and Brett Scherer to move into fifth and the Leaty charge was on. Jan was fourth on lap 46 and two laps later moved quickly into third and one lap later he grabbed second and now the race for the win was on.

“ The second tire we put on the right rear when we pitted I don't think sized up as good as the one we had on the car “ said Jan. “ The car is never quite as good on another tire as the first tire you have on and that is what happened tonight. Last night the second tire we put on was just as good as the first tire we had on. But that is how it goes sometimes and you have to give Matt plenty of credit as his strategy worked. With his strategy he never had to pass many cars so he didn't use a lot of rubber. “

When Jan tracked down Hirschman many thought that the winning pass was coming. Jan had one good shot at passing Hirschman and he was under him at the mid point of the backstretch on lap 59. But as the side by side racing duo entered turn three Leaty backed out giving Hirschman the opportunity to keep the lead that he would never give up.

Jan spoke about that pivotal moment of the race. “ Yes I backed out as we were on iffy tires at that point of the race and you don't have a ton of confidence in everything at that point of the race. I thought maybe I could have stayed in there that time, but I'm not going to wreck a guy on purpose to win a race. “

“ I had already started to pack up the trailer and the guys were the ones who actually didn't want to quit “ said third place finisher Tom McGrath who blew a rear end leading heat one. “ One crew member searched the pits and didn't find the parts we needed so he said I'm going back to the shop to get the parts we need to fix the problem. The shop is a half hour away, so he got back an hour later and it was during the Late Model feature we he arrived with the parts. We had just about ten minutes to get it together and finished just as they called us to the line. “

McGrath who started 19th played his cards just like a majority of everyone else pitted on lap 33 for a new right rear tire. When the racing resumed McGrath drove his way to the front as he entered fifth on lap 50. Just three laps later McGrath had impressively moved into third and it seemed that he was going to give the front two cars a run for their money. But the run never materialized over the final 22 laps and Tom settled for a hard working third place finish.

“ I think I pushed it a little too hard getting to the front “ summarized Tom. “ As once I got to the front it seemed that I didn't have enough left. Plus when you have Jan and Matt in front of you they're going to be tough to pass. You have to give Matt plenty of credit as he didn't pit and won. “

Qualifying for the 29 cars in attendance saw heat wins captured by Bill Hebing, Leaty, and Fidanza. No B Main was run due to only 26 cars able to run the feature after hot laps.

JR KENNERUP/RoC Asphalt Modifieds PR